col. paper wraps, stapled at spine, unpaginated, (51 p), illustrated, story and pictures in linoleum blocks by Ed Nofziger; acknowledgment to Allen W. Bratton, The artist, Ed Nofziger was born in California. During WWII his religious conviction led him to declare himself a conscientious objector and in 1943 he was conscripted and assigned to a Forest Service station in Cooperstown, New York. It was during this time that Nofziger used his artistic talent and imagination to create Joe Beaver (JOE BEAVER does not appear in this example, the title characters are, Ashton and Elmer, two little trees) as a teaching tool to promote conservation. Joe Beaver was a great success and the Forest Service began to use him to promote forest management. He is the forerunner of Smokey the Bear and Woodsy Owl. Later Nofziger would be employed in full time animation, working for UPA studios drawing "Mister Magoo" cartoons and later for Hanna-Barbera where he drew "Ruff and Ready" This small item is an early contribution to the promotion of forest conservation in the United States and as such is worth saving. Nofziger died in 2000. In his Los Angeles Times obituary a fellow artist Roger Armstrong gave him his due as one of "the finest cartoonist of animals in the last half-century." Size: 8 vo,.